Sport leagues anyone?

[The KingPin]

Has anyone bowled in a sport bowling league and if so, how was it?

[ThongPrincess]

I bowled in a Sport League for 4 years before getting squeezed out this year. As frustrating as it can be, it was an awesome experience. I look at this season and the struggling I have been experiencing and wonder how much is due to not bowling the Sport League.

The format of the league was great, teams of trios, 4 games with the first 2 each week a position round, then the next 2 were the normal rotation. The league has 4 rounds with a roll-off at the end 4 round champs and a wild card.

I also bowled a PBA Experience league the first year they had them. The problem with the format was they had a different pattern each week so you never really got to figure out how to play each pattern. It was a trios league.

I am hoping to get back into the Sport league at least for the summer and possibly be able to get a team that actually shows up to bowl in the Fall.

[Iceman]

I shot in my first PBA experience, it was 2 weeks of each pattern, we started with 18 teams of 4, after 3 weeks, we had 9 teams of 3. People quit because they were not shooting 200's. I never missed a week and did get 1 600 on the Scorpion pattern. This experience made me much better spare shooter. I rarely miss single pins now, if I do it's a lack of focus on my part.

The ones that quit, came back in the fall, and love telling me they are averaging 220 this season, I just simply say " Yeah I see how good you are, Monday PBA experience showed me that!" They don't like me, but who cares, I don't like quitters and don't like the ones using tainted league shots to tell me how good they are. I'm happy with my 210 across 4 leagues for the year. I'm 214 to 207 in all 4.

[JAnderson]

Sport bowling reminds me of college in that you get out of it what you put into it. Many bowlers try and fail and quit or try and have moderate success and quit. It is sad these bowlers didn't stop to figure out why they didn't have the success they desired. Sport bowling provides excellent feedback on your game, but only if you're willing to "listen".

For example, many bowlers understand that easier conditions provide miss room. If a bowlers is lined up correctly, he or she has miss room and can make any number of mistakes and still have a favorable result. These bowlers often don't realize how much those same conditions provide miss room on their spares as well. It is simply amazing how many right-handed bowlers miss a high percentage of 7-pin and 4-pin spares when they make the move to sport conditions. The same is true for 10-pin and 6-pin spares for lefties.

For a right-hander shooting a 7-pin spare, it doesn't matter if that bowler is a cranker, stroker, or whatever. The bowler is either accurate enough to make it or not. Sport bowling shows how inaccurate bowlers can be, giving them a chance to improve their game. Ignorance is bliss on easy conditions.